How to use Kanth
Five minutes to learn, for singers and for teachers.
For singers
- Choose your voice. Under the ribbon, pick soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass or child. Not sure? Open "Sound and guide" and press Find my range, then sing your lowest and highest easy notes.
- Press Play. The piano gives you the chord and the first note, counts you in, and you sing. After each repeat it gives the next chord, a little higher (or lower), until it reaches the edge of your range and comes back.
- Read the ribbon. Height is pitch. Thickness is how loud: a ribbon that grows means crescendo. Beads are short, detached notes (staccato). The colour tells you the vowel: warm colours for bright vowels like "ee", cool for dark vowels like "oo", lilac for lip trills, straws and hums.
- Sing with the microphone. Press 🎤. Your voice is drawn as a green line; each key gets a score in the list beside the ribbon. Use headphones so the microphone hears you, not the piano. Nothing is recorded or sent anywhere.
- Change the names. 1 2 3, S R G (sargam), do re mi (solfa) or C D E. The staff below always shows the real notes for the key you are in.
For teachers
- Make an exercise in Build. Start from a preset or type numbers. Pick the vowel and consonant, staccato or legato, a crescendo or a swell, chords, tempo, and whether it climbs up, down, or stays in one key. Echo mode lets the guide sing it first and the student answer.
- Share it: every exercise travels inside its link, so a student can open it on any phone without an account.
- Send homework from My exercises: tick exercises, add a note, send the link on WhatsApp.
- Teach live from Live class: students join with the code; change the exercise, key or tempo and their screens follow. Press Play for everyone and everyone starts together with the sound from their own device. Turn your own call audio down while they sing.
The note language
Exercises are written as scale steps, so one pattern works in every key.
1 2 3 4 5scale steps;8is the top note of the octave, and9,10… keep going up.b3,#4: flat and sharp steps. In a minor exercise,3is already the minor third.5,an octave lower;3'an octave higher.- Each note is as long as the Note length you choose (an eighth, unless you change it).
:1makes a note last one beat,:2two beats,:1/3a triplet;-holds the note before it one more step;_is a rest. .short (staccato),>accent,~slide into the next note.( … )one breath, drawn as a slur.
Example: ( 1 3 5 8 5 3 1:2 ) is an octave arpeggio in eighths, in one breath, ending on a note held for two beats.
Questions
Is Kanth free?
Yes. Every exercise, the builder, homework links and live classes are free, with no sign-up. Kanth is made by Nathaniel School of Music in Bangalore.
Do I need a keyboard or a piano?
No. Kanth plays the piano chords, the starting note and a guide voice for you, and climbs the exercise up and down your range on its own. You only need a phone or a computer and headphones.
How does Kanth know my range?
Pick your voice type (soprano, mezzo, alto, tenor, baritone, bass or child), or press "Find my range" and sing your lowest and highest comfortable notes. Every exercise then starts and stops inside that range.
Does it check whether I am singing in tune?
Press "Sing with mic". Your voice is drawn as a green line over the exercise and each key gets an in-tune score, with a note on whether you tend to sing sharp or flat. The sound never leaves your device.
Can a teacher make their own exercises?
Yes. Build lets a teacher type or tap any pattern of notes, choose the vowel or consonant, staccato or legato, a crescendo or a swell, the chords and the tempo, then save it, send it as a link or add it to a homework set.
How does the live class work?
The teacher opens a class and shares a six-letter code or link. Every student who joins sees the same exercise, key and tempo, and when the teacher presses Play everyone starts together, each with the sound coming from their own phone. Scores come back to the teacher's list.
Does it have Indian classical riyaz?
Yes: Sa lagana, sarali and janta varisais, alankars (paltas), kharaj and meend, with a real tanpura drone tuned to your Sa, and the notes shown in sargam.
Which styles does it cover?
Classical and bel canto, Indian classical, pop and R&B, jazz, rock, gospel, musical theatre and choir. Every exercise lists where it comes from.